War in Eritrea 1980

Photos by Frits Eisenloeffel

Journalist Frits Eisenloeffel was invited by the EPLF (Eritrean People's Liberation Front) to document their struggle against the Ethiopian occupation army in 1980. He visited the Afabet front where he photographed the EPLF fighters and their educational, cultural and medical activities. At the She'eb hospital many wounded EPLF fighters were treated for the wounds. She'eb was the coded name for this secret place which hold an underground hospital and drugstore, machine-workshops and an underground info-department ('info-city') with a print shop and radio studio.

He also visited the destroyed town of Nacfa (capital of Northern Sahel province) and the refugee camp of Wagrad. As in the Barka province, which he visited later, the EPLF everywhere provided educational and medical assistance to the local nomads, refugees and even to the Ethiopian POW's (Prisoner of War) in the POW camp at Arag. The last photo shows Frits Eisenloeffel with EPLF fighters in a bunker.